Means for eliminating the effects of wear in universal joints



July 26, 1949. v. GODSEY 2,477,449

. MEANS FOR ELIMINATING THE EFFECTS OF WEAR IN UNIVERSAL JOINTS Filed June 2, 1947 INVENTOR. /./?/V 400.95)

arm/FM? Patented July 26, 1949 UNITED STATE MEANS FOR ELIMINATING THE EFFECTS OF WEAR IN UNIVERSAL JOINTS Verne Godsey, Wichita, Kans; I Application June 2, 1947, Serial No. 751,696 Q 1 Claim.

The invention disclosed in this patent application relates to universal joints and particularly to those of the type known as the Detroit universal joint, in which needle bearings carried by the drive shaft operate in guideways provided in the universal joint housings.

The rolls of these needle bearings have a wearing efiect on the guideways and the practice has been to substitute an entire new universal joint housing when such guideways have been worn to the point of allowing objectionable slack or lost motion in the joint.

Objects of the present invention are to enable continued use of the *universal joint housings even after they have become badly worn, and to provide practical means for eliminating the lost motion caused by such wear.

Special objects of the invention are to provide means of an inexpensive and easily installed character for eiiecting the above results and which in accomplishing the desired transformation or restoration of operating efilciency will not throw the universal joint out of balance or in any other way detract from its proper and intended performance.

Other desirable objects attained by the invention are set forth or will appear in the course of the following specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification illustrates a present commercial embodiment of the invention. Structure, however, may be modified to some extent, all within the true and intended scope of the in vention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

Fig. 1 in the drawing is a broken longitudinal sectional view of essential parts of a Detroit universal joint having the invention incorporated therein;

Fig. 2 is a broken longitudinal view with portions appearing in section as on substantially the plane of line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan or face view of one of the socalled spacers which can be introduced between the companion flanges of the joint to locate the housing in a new wearing position over the needle bearings.

In the type of drive under consideration it is standard practice to provide a universal joint between the transmission and one end of a drive or propeller shaft and another, like universal joint between the other end of the shaft and the differential gear.

For the sake of simplicity, only one of such joints is illustrated, the one between the rear or after end of the shaftand the drive pinion of the differential.

The drive shaft is designated 5 and is shown as having radial arms or prongs .6 carrying the needle bearing rolls 1 operating in the guides B of the universal joint housing 9.

The housing 9 is shownas having a flange l0 which in normal practice is seated within the rim ll of the flange ii of the pinion drive collar l3.

Normally, also, these two flanges Ill and I? are directly secured together by bolts l4 and nuts 'A spring (not shown), usually interposed between the pinion flange l2 andthe end of the drive shaft, centers the parts and allows for necessary freedom of action.

While in operation the needle bearing rolls 7 and guides 8 relatively shift longitudinally, the fact remains that most of the driving is effected with the rolls and guideways in one set relation, resulting in wear on the guides such as indicated at I6 in Figs. 1 and 2.

The grooves or depressions l6 formed in the tracks of the guides, in addition to introducing objectionable lost motion, causes the rolls at times to partially lock in the guides, introducing a dangerous condition in addition to simply causing breakage of parts. As a consequence it has been the practice to throw away these universal joint housings when they show such signs of wear and to replace them with complete new housings.

The present invention avoids such needs for replacement by effecting a relative shifting of housing and needle hearings to locate the points of wear at different and what are relatively unused portions of the guides.

Fig. 2 in particular illustrates this point, where it will be noted that the needle bearing rolls 'l are located at a point inward of the housing. away from the wear grooves 16 in the walls of the guide 8.

This relative shifting and relocation of parts is attained by interposing one or more washerlike spacers l'l between the flanges It and I2 to effect a permanent shift of the housing away from the pinion gear flange, and thus a location of the needle bearing rolls 1 over new portions of the guide tracks inwardly of those portions formerly engaged by the rolls.

While two spacer discs I! are shown, only one may ordinarily be needed. These discs may be of various thicknesses, ranging ordinarily from to and, as above indicated, only one or any number may be employed, depending upon g lqulan qrtiii lgeeqii liei is, 2P "guideways and nee-die tearing it :ffumver l in le -ms 9 the sate l te eiii etwe ess 99 .1 2- v, s gginzu q separation Number sufilcient to admit insertion of one or more 1,444,528 L- 2,477,449 the location of the points of wear in the universal The invention is of low cost, can be quickly ill-'- joint housings. stalled at small expense and renders a relatively To avoid adding objectionable weight, the discs expensive piece of equipment usable and, in fact, may be of aluminum or other light material. restored to its original effective condition. They are made with bolt receiving openings 58 5 What is claimed is:

to accommodate the same bolts which fasten the In a universal joint of the type in which needle flanges together. These bolts are usually long bearing rolls on a drive shaft operate in engageerrough to take care of the additional thickness ment with guide tracks in a universal joint housprovideibythe interppsed spacer disc or discs ing v if ?i ,,fl nse lg l-ted;;tq 12h? companion so thatft hefittirfe fistnings, formerly in use, may 10 flangefoiga shafitfcollariand in tzl'iirm the rolls have be employed. a tendency to wear cross grooves in the tracks at The external diameter of the spacer discs is points of normal engagement of the parts, the the same or approximately the sameas the outhereindisclo sed means for eliminating the effect side diameter of the housirig'fi'a' il,.;so as to V of such w arfa'ndrstoring the joint to normally seat within the rim ll of the comp'a nflarige I2 1 effective iidition and comprising a spacing disc in the same manner as the flange HJ. or .discsof'the same outline as said flanges secured Similarly, the spacer discs are made with openin fixed relatignbetween said flanges and having ings therethrough to generally correspond with a'permanentoirer-all thickness suificient in such the openings in the ends of the housings, aprelation to relatively shift said rolls and tracks proximately as. shownfifp Fig. 3, with a generally 9 s cers ser he w much the s of different tied and used The "installed "of the'cie'v'ice is relatively Lear-s 8 35 2 051 575 r. .066 0;-l936 Miqu lom e ect it sm 

